


Fuck the Writers, I'll fix it

by sapphic_writer



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Canon-Typical Violence, Destiel - Freeform, Emotional, Emotionally Repressed, Episode Fix-It: s15e18, Episode Fix-It: s15e19, Episode Fix-It: s15e20, Episode Spoilers, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Jack Needs a Hug, Jack being Jack, Love Confessions, M/M, Romance, Season/Series 15, dean doesnt die on a rusty nail, fuck the writers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphic_writer/pseuds/sapphic_writer
Summary: Did you hate the season finale? Same! This is the fic for you.We pick up at the beginning of 15x18 with Jack about to explode and no clue how to take down Chuck. The gays are all okay at the end, and Dean doesn't die on a rusty nail. I promise a happy ending and actual regular updates. Loosely based on the canon episodes.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	1. Jack

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rocknrolldamnation73](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocknrolldamnation73/gifts).



> I've elected myself the savior of this fandom. Starting with 15x18 I am rewriting the ending to give everyone else in the fandom the ending they deserved. For anyone who hasn't been watching this season (or who just forgot because this is all so convoluted), Jack absorbed the rib of Adam (like Adam and Eve Adam, not the Winchester Adam) which turned him into a kind of bomb to take down Chuck. Chuck essentially fused with Amara and fucked off and now Jack is going to explode for no reason. Also Billie was helping them take down Chuck, and one of the things they were using to do this was the book that lists possible deaths for God. 
> 
> I will be posting more than once a week (probably every day this week) but the chapters will likely be short (although the fic in total will probably end up being pretty long). I will be changing POV throughout also to accommodate for who is actually in the scene and who I think is the emotional core of a given scene. I will promise you upfront that there is a happy ending, the gays win, and Dean does not die on a rusty nail. Thanks to Rocknrolldamnation73 for editing and please please comment (and leave kudos if you enjoy). Comments mean the world to me and I will be interacting :)

"It hurts" Jack's hands were clutching his ribs now as he bent over in pain. 

"I don't want to hurt anyone. Please."

His eyes were glowing a fire-gold and the skin around them seemed to crack and seep light, it was all too much for him to contain.

"I-I can't be here. You have to take me somewhere far away. I can't stop it and I don't want to hurt you." He was panicking and that wasn't making things better. The power burned inside of him deep enough to make him aware of the pain in every atom of his body, shaking the reality of matter. He could feel his grace… expanding didn't seem like the right word. expanding implies that it's happening in the third dimension where space exists. Even as he said it, he knew that it wasn't enough to get him away from the bunker. He could be on the other side of the world, but without Chuck to absorb the blast he might take out the whole galaxy. That thought sent a new wave of icy panic through his bones. 

he could vaguely feel Cas in front of him, pleading, but the power was making it hard to focus. 

"I can't stop this; I'm coming apart." Something inside of his essence tore. It was coming and there was nothing he could do. "Don't let me hurt you."

"We're not giving up on you, okay? We'll—um—magic. Sam, what about one of Rowena's spells? Come on! We have to do something!" Some part of him heard Dean, but there wasn't much reassurance in that. Isn't this what he wanted? He'd heard Dean say that he wasn't like them, that he wasn't family, and he was right. Jack knew he was right, that's why he had agreed to this in the first place. He couldn't destroy Chuck, so the least he could do was explode far enough away that he wouldn't disturb them further. 

"I think you've done enough." Someone else was there. Billy. He could feel her power even through everything else: maybe because he was so close to the other side now. There was bickering but he couldn't hear it. Maybe they were figuring out how to send him away. Maybe Cas was bargaining for him to stay. None of it mattered, he would be gone soon and he would take them with. 

He felt a cold hand on his chin. It tilted his head up and he was staring into the face of death. She was going to take him now, he was sure of it. She would take them all. He was shaking, his molecules vibrating faster, almost matching the rhythm of the universe. 

And he was gone, and there was nothing. 

"I'm sorry."


	2. Sam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay on the second chapter, I didn't realize I would have to restructure the plot so soon but the writers shoved so much exposition and so many bs explanations into this scene that if I had pulled too much from it I would have looked like a shit writer.

"Where is he?"

Everything went sideways so fast, Sam was having a hard time keeping his head where it needed to be. He'd never wanted Jack to have to do that in the first place, and now he was gone and Chuck was no worse for wear. Christ, one step at a time. 

"The Empty. With God and Amara gone it was the only thing that could absorb the detonation" Death's tone was flat and uncaring. Of course it was, she might be on their side when it comes to taking down Chuck, but she has no reason to care beyond that. 

"So it's done?" Cas was in the same stance he took every time they faced down a hopeless situation. Feet spread apart, jaw set, fists balled at his side. It was moments like this which made Sam really remember that he was a warrior of heaven once, and he was ready to do anything for the people he loved. 

"It's done."

Sam could feel Dean deflate beside him, he knew something was breaking in there, just like it did every time they lost someone. Sam on the other hand, every muscle in his body was clenched and ready for action. This was far from over. They still had to take on God, they had to get Jack back, they had to deal with The Empty and on and on and on. 

Cas' face turned stony and he met Death's eyes. He was the first one strong enough to ask the question they all needed to hear. "Is he dead"

Death sighed and tapped her fingertips lightly against the long shaft of her scythe. "He might be, I'm not sure. If Jack survived the explosion, The Empty will not be pleased, especially since I sent him there. We don't exactly see eye to eye but he can't come here without being summoned." She cast her gaze around the bunker. "This isn't his domain" 

"Bring him back Billie." Sam knew she had no reason to listen, but he was still ready to rip her apart. 

"Not so fast, I need something from you first." 

Of course she needed something; there was always a caveat. 

"I am going to need God's book."  
"And then what? We'll get him back? How do we even know he's alive?" Sam knew he couldn't trust Billy, but what choice did they have?

Billy sighed again as if this was a silly technicality. She closed her eyes and seemed to pulsate slightly as reality bent around her. "He's alive, I can assure you. The book, now." 

"We'll give it to you." Cas' voice was little more than a growl. Sam didn't mind Cas making the promise on his and Dean's behalf, he knew well that both of them would do the same.

Everything in the room stilled with defeat. "Well," she drawled, "where is it?"

Christ, it had been Sam's idea to move the book. Him and Dean had a whole argument over it. "The bunker is the safest place in the world," Dean had said, "and we can protect it here. Moving it out of reach is asking for trouble." Sam pointed out that the bunker isn't really that safe. Maybe it was for the caliber of monsters the original Men of Letters were dealing with but it seemed that these days any big bad is able to get in with no problem. No, Sam suggested that they hide it instead. You don't have to defend something if no one knows where it is in the first place. It was a good idea at the time. Sam bit back his pride. "It's not here, we have to go get it."

Billy let out a frustrated noise and tightened her knuckles around her scythe until it looked like the bones were ready to rip free from the confines of her flesh. "Well, you'd better hurry, I have a feeling he won't last long."

And she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to mention that I have a list of loose ends I am going to try to tie up but if there is any plot line you especially want wrapped up leave a comment and I'll try to work it in!


	3. Cas

Everything was falling apart again. He'd bargained away his life to get Jack out of the empty and it meant absolutely nothing. 

"God damn it!" Cas looked over at Dean whose fingers were woven into his hair and pulling hard enough that it must have hurt. Cas braced himself for what he knew was the next step in Dean processing his grief, anger, and frustration. "God FUCKING damn it!" Dean kicked the nearest chair across the room and Cas could hear the wood splinter on impact. Sam still hadn't moved and Cas knew that his mind would be reeling a hundred miles an hour now, trying to make sense of everything that just happened.  
Cas on the other hand, he knew exactly what needed to happen next. He didn't have the luxury of being upset, especially while Sam and Dean were still in shock. Cas double checked his coat pocket to make sure he had his angel blade and started stalking towards the garage. There was no telling how long Jack would last in the empty _if_ he would last at all.  
"Where are you going?" Cas spun around to look at the younger Winchester.  
"I'm going to Texas to get the book." As if there was any question about this. Of course they would get the book and of course they would save Jack. They would have to find some other way to take out Chuck, if there was another way. No, one problem at a time. They had to get Jack out of the empty.  
"So, what? We just hand the book over to Billie? We give her exactly what she wants?"  
"Yes, and you just agreed to it. We're wasting time Sam." The equation was simple. They didn't need the book, it had been useless to them so far anyway. What they did need, _who_ they did need, was Jack.  
Sam let out a short breath like he was frustrated at having to put whatever went through his head into words. "Why does Billy want the book?"  
That got Dean's attention too. He looked up, and Cas could see that he was trembling slightly. Instincts told him to go grab the hunter's hand. Instincts told him to hold Dean until he stopped shaking. Instincts told him to whisper to the man that everything would be okay. Cas forced his eyes away from Dean.  
He knew they would have to hand over the book in the end, but something about the way Sam asked the question made Cas hesitate. "I don't know why she wants it, but we'll deal with the consequences later. We have to get Jack."  
"It's a power grab, it has to be." Sam's eyes were darting back and forth like he was figuring out some puzzle they couldn't see. "With Chuck gone there's going to be a power vacuum, and who else can fill it but her?"  
"Well, what does that mean? What happens if Billy takes power?" Dean's quick breaths were slowing now and he was leaning his weight on the nearby table in the gap where a chair should have been.  
What did Billie want? Cas thought back on every interaction they'd had and came up with the inevitable conclusion. "Order. She's always wanted order. Everyone back in their place where they belong. Everyone who's died, anyone from the other earth…"  
"They'll be gone," Dean finished. There was another tug in Cas' chest telling him to hold Dean tight while he still had a chance. They all sat in the silence for a moment, taking in the fact that they now have another threat on their hands they had to deal with.  
"We have to focus on getting Jack and taking out Chuck first. I'll meet you in the car." And with that Cas turned and left. No one objected.  
Sitting in the back of the impala alone, only one feeling overwhelmed him: weariness. One problem solved and another pops up. Cas would be lying if he said he wasn't getting tired too. He had been a soldier for longer than the world has existed, but the last twelve years had been something different. Everything he knew fell apart, he discovered free will, heaven fell, he fell. It weighed on him, and sometimes late at night, after everyone else in the bunker had gone to bed, he would look at the barely used mattress in his bedroom and wish that he could just sleep. Not forever, just to catch his breath. It seemed like it would be nice to just rest for a while without feeling chased. He hadn't felt peace since the last time he sat in the gardens of heaven before the apocalypse started and he was ordered by his commanding officer to drag the man who would change his life out of hell. He remembered the feeling of stretching out his angelic form on the cool dewy grass and watching the bees pollinate the flowers. He would take in the entire landscape at once with his many eyes and admire its perfection. Too perfect, he thought now. Barely even real. The flowers would bloom if the bees were there to pollinate them or not, because they were never alive to begin with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man if feels good to get to some destiel :)


	4. Cas

The ride was so long Cas could almost feel himself grow tired. It was a strange feeling, he could remember exhaustion from his brief time as a human and every once in a while the memory would ghost back in and make him long for sleep. After flying everywhere for millions of years, driving felt like standing still, even now. Cas pushed his shoulder blades together in discomfort thinking about his wings. They didn’t hurt anymore, but they still felt like phantom limbs. From time to time he would forget about their mangled state and stretch them out, preparing to navigate through the planes of reality but he could never do more than flick them in and out of it these days, so the impala it is. 

Usually he didn’t mind driving when he was with the Winchesters. He tried to think of it less as travel and more as family time. They rarely went for long rides together but when they did Dean would always pick through his tape collection at each stop and interrogate him on what songs or bands he’d listened to and what he hadn’t heard yet. He didn’t mind most of the music, though he tended to like the slower songs with long instrumentals and mournful lyrics. Obviously the instruments were much different but they always reminded him a little of the ancient Minoan songs of praise he would listen to with Balthazar. They weren’t supposed to be on earth at that time but Balthazar had convinced him that there would be no harm done as long as they stayed invisible. Cas supposed he had always had a little bit of a rebellious streak, even before he recognized it.

One time he’d mentioned off hand that he enjoyed Stairway to Heaven (he rarely commented on Dean’s music) and a week later Dean knocked on his door looking nervous with a tape in hand. Cas didn’t have any way to play it in his room but he didn’t have the heart to tell Dean that, so instead he waited until the boys went to sleep and listened to the whole tape while sitting in his car. He always felt a little lonely at night, but listening to the music, if he closed his eyes, he could imagine Dean was sitting beside him, and if he thought harder he could see Dean smiling in that beautiful way someone smiles when they haven’t for a long time.   
One night Cas was sitting in the driver’s seat, eyes closed, listening. “when love is pain it can devour you, but you are never alone; I will share your load, I will share your load.” Someone yanked open the passenger door and Cas looked over to see Dean getting into the passenger seat.

“Why are you up?”   
Dean shrugged and slammed the door shut. “Couldn’t sleep, thought I’d give baby a polish ‘til I get tired again. Why are you sitting in your car?”   
“I wanted to listen to the tape you gave me.”   
Dean wrinkled his brow and looked at the edge of the tape, the label slightly worn from handling.   
"Okay but why are you out here."   
It felt stupid now, he could have gone and got a tape player at any time, but he liked listening to it in the car. It felt right.   
"This is the only tape player I own Dean."  
"Oh." 

And that was it. Dean leaned back in the passenger seat and closed his eyes, listening. Soon Castiel heard him snoring softly. Of course the hunter would feel more comfortable sleeping in a car than in his own bed. Dean's head slipped sideways until it rested gently on the angel's shoulder. Cas didn't move for the rest of the night, even after the tape ended, afraid of waking the man on his shoulder. 

There was no stopping the impala to look at music this time. It was a miracle they never got pulled over for speeding. A couple times Cas had to shake Dean's shoulder to keep him awake so they didn't run off the road. Eventually Cas convinced Dean to let him drive since he couldn't get tired. He argued as he always did, but eventually relinquished the driver's seat to Cas once he pointed out that Dean might need the sleep for whatever comes next with Billie. 

When they arrived just outside of Odessa Texas, the sun was just about to crest the horizon, bathing the desert in its golden light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the break in uploads, I had finals then needed to spend time with family for the holidays but I'm back now and I have solemnly vowed to never abandon this fic. And yes, two Cas chapters in a row, what can I say, I love writing for him ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	5. Dean

Dean wiped the sweat from his forehead. It had taken them nearly an hour to cross out the sigils and disable the hex bags they had placed around the abandoned shed before they could even start digging for it. When his shovel made the telltale clunk of metal hitting metal, he dug his hands into the dirt and hefted out the heavy iron lockbox. As Sam got to work undoing the locks, something gnawed at him. This couldn't be a good idea. If Billie wanted the book, it couldn't be for anything good. What had changed?  
Sam was working on the last lock when Dean finally spoke up. "This doesn't feel right to anyone does it? I mean, we can't just hand the book over to Billie."  
Dean heard Cas sigh behind him but he didn't turn around. He knew exactly where the angel would land on the issue. "Dean, we have to save Jack, we don't have any other choice."  
Sam had the box open now and he was running his fingertips thoughtfully over the fine leather cover. "I've been thinking about that a lot on the way here but I can't crack it. She has had the book since she became Death, so why does she want it so bad now?"  
"Maybe she can do something now that she couldn't do before." Dean may not know jack shit about algebra or The Great Gatsby or whatever else normal people learn but what he did know was strategy. "It's a power grab, It has to be."  
He could see the cogs turning in Sam's head, connecting all the dots together. "Oh my God."  
"What?" Cas and Dean spoke at the same time.  
"She's going to try to be the new God. With Chuck gone there's going to be a power vacuum, and who better to fill it than Death herself?"  
"The only thing she's ever wanted is order and balance." Cas' eyes were stony and distant. He seemed a thousand miles away, and all Dean wanted was to grab him and bring him back to earth, but they didn't have that luxury right now.  
"Wait. Order." Sam's face was pale now and his fingers had stilled over the center of the book. "Eileen. Order would mean putting everyone back where they belong. Everyone in their own dimension, and those who have died…"  
"They'd be gone." Dean finished for him. He looked over at Cas. If him and Sam died they would just go to heaven and Dean had made peace with that fate, but Cas would go to the empty. He would be gone forever. But on the other hand…  
"Pick your poison, either God ends everything or Billie does, at least this way we get Jack back and we buy ourselves a little more time. Some world is better than no world at all." It was a fucked up reality but there it was. The Winchesters once again stuck between a rock and a hard place. It never ends.  
It was settled, so Sam hauled the book into the back of the impala and Dean picked out a mixed tape he made years ago for when he knew shit was about to go south. 

_I see the torch  
We all must hold  
This is the mystery of the quotient, quotient  
Upon us all, upon us all a little rain must fall  
Just a little rain_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! another update, still just kind of moving the pieces in place so that the plot going forward makes some kind of sense, obviously more exciting things will happen going forward. In case you're curious, the song quoted at the end is The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin.


	6. Sam

Sam's stomach turned as he dug his nails into the soft leather cover of the book. There was no option really, they had to give the book to Billie, but it opened up a whole other set of problems to deal with. It didn't feel too long ago that he thought they could all retire soon. It probably wouldn't be anything close to a normal retirement, a few hunters, an angel, and the son of Satan, but he didn't need normal. He was even starting to think about how he would ask Eileen to move into the bunker with him. Just a few years of peace was all he needed. 

Sam's hand hesitated on the handle for a moment as he looked back at Dean for courage. Dean's eyes were stony, and angry, and distant but it was good just to know that his brother was behind him, ready to back him up even if everything was going south anyway. 

He pushed into the bunker and saw Death standing where she was before, looking relaxed as she paged through a vellum book written in a language Sam couldn't quite make out because of the distance. As they walked down the stairs she closed the cover and drummed her fingertips along the smooth shaft of her scythe. 

"You boys took your time. I sure hope little Jack hasn't been swallowed up by all that emptiness."

Her eyes flicked from Cas to Sam to Dean. She was toying with them, enjoying her little power trip. It made him want to rip the book up in front of her and make her watch as he burned the pieces just to see her lose that cool look for a second, but instead he walked to her. She smiled and held her hand open for him to give her the book. He threw it on the ground. It was petty, but there was something satisfying about letting her know exactly how little he thought of her. 

Billie crouched down and grabbed the book by the spine, brushing her hands over the crescent shaped impressions left by Sam's nails. "My my, you really should've treated this better; it is invaluable after all."

"Give us Jack, _now_." Dean stepped forward and Sam knew he was restraining himself from decking Death herself directly in the face. 

"I do make good on my deals Dean." As she closed her eyes there was a suffocating feeling in the room as dimensions clashed together and something was pulled through several planes of existence. When the feeling subsided Jack was standing by Death's side looking rattled but alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short one but things are about to get spicy ;) prepare for angst y'all!


End file.
